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I don't know much about the cost of living in Seattle but I just know I'm spending much more in electricity, water, and car repairs here than I did in Michigan.
How do you get by with an evaporative cooler all summer? They only work in the dry months of May and June but by July when the summer monsoon begins they don't work so well.
I agree that harsh weather takes its toll on cars, the frigid cold was always a factor where I'm from, we constantly had to shovel snow, scrape ice, and install snow tires in the wintertime. Maintaining a car was more physical time-consuming work but less expensive than here.
Water bills and maintaining a yard is hardly anything if you have just rock and cactus but some of us like a backyard pool, shadetrees and grass, they make the summertime heat easier to deal with but they can be costly too.
If I had a choice between Phoenix, Seattle, or Michigan I would choose Phoenix but I just disagree with people who say it's cheap living here, for me it's not so much.
I don't get by with just an evap cooler. I have both Evap and A/C. I use the evap as much as I can because it's simple, natural and it doesn't cost much to run it but when the humidity goes up, I'm forced to use the A/C.
I also have a pool but mostly just rock landscaping. I do want to add a few plants and a tree or two but I haven't been able to do that yet.
I don't find the pool to be that costly. Specially for all the comfort and joy it brings. At least to me. I love having a pool and it's a gathering place for friends and family. I wouldn't know what to do without it.
Native Washingtonian here and I just HAD to chime in. Not about the OP's son, but about the ongoing weather debate between Phoenix and Seattle. When I was younger (I'm mid 50's now), the weather didn't bug me that much. I hated the short little snippets of summer we would get (some years it NEVER came), but only because everything was so achingly beautiful when the weather was nice and we knew it could not last. Then came the dark oppressive autumn months, which led into the dark and rainy and windy winter months, which morphed into the mostly gray, cold and wet springs. Once again we held our breath for the few brilliant days that we knew were coming. But those few days aren't enough for me anymore. We have owned a home in the West Valley for six years and have stayed off and on during the year. We are now retiring to spend most of the year down there. It's true that the summer heat is horrible and that the only refuge is inside the house. But October through May is beautiful and livable and the blue sky makes my soul happy! In Seattle, the six weeks (if we're lucky) of decent outdoor weather are eroded by the months after months of indoor weather.
Everyone has different tolerances. No one is "right" or "wrong". But for me, I'm heading south.
Native Washingtonian here and I just HAD to chime in. Not about the OP's son, but about the ongoing weather debate between Phoenix and Seattle. When I was younger (I'm mid 50's now), the weather didn't bug me that much. I hated the short little snippets of summer we would get (some years it NEVER came), but only because everything was so achingly beautiful when the weather was nice and we knew it could not last. Then came the dark oppressive autumn months, which led into the dark and rainy and windy winter months, which morphed into the mostly gray, cold and wet springs. Once again we held our breath for the few brilliant days that we knew were coming. But those few days aren't enough for me anymore. We have owned a home in the West Valley for six years and have stayed off and on during the year. We are now retiring to spend most of the year down there. It's true that the summer heat is horrible and that the only refuge is inside the house. But October through May is beautiful and livable and the blue sky makes my soul happy! In Seattle, the six weeks (if we're lucky) of decent outdoor weather are eroded by the months after months of indoor weather.
Everyone has different tolerances. No one is "right" or "wrong". But for me, I'm heading south.
Wow! That's EXACTLY how it was with me. I waited and waited for what was considered summer. It felt like it never came and once it did, before you even realized it, September was here and it started raining again.
It was miserable and it was like that every year. Well, except the occasional year we just didn't get a summer.
Yes, it is so very beautiful in the PNW. I just couldn't enjoy it with all the rain. It's kind of like "can't see the forest through the trees" kind of thing.
I was born and raised in the PNW and lived in both Seattle and Portland. I got so fed up with the miserable rainy, damp, gloomy weather that I upped and moved from Portland to Phoenix. I was so happy making the move. I now live in Southern California which I prefer. To me it is a no brainer, I would choose Phoenix over Seattle hands down.
As far as cost of living, Phoenix is much cheaper. This is from the Numbeo web site.
You would need around 3,327.67$ in Phoenix, AZ to maintain
the same standard of life that you can have with 4,600.00$ in Seattle, WA
(assuming you rent in both cities).
This calculation uses our Consumer Prices Including Rent Index.
We are set to accept a job and buy a house in Ahwatukee. We currently live in Seattle, our daughter will be going to college in the fall and doesn't care either way, but our 15 year old son is a high school freshman and absolutely does not want to move. I feel sick to my stomach everytime I think about telling him that we are indeed moving to Phoenix. He would attend Desert Vista High, which I have heard is a great school. Are we going to like living there? Am I wrong to move our son during high school? We moved to Seattle 3 years when he was in 6th grade because my parents live here and I grew up here, but now we have a good job to go to in Phoenix. Also if we buy a house in Ahwatukee is the value going to go up in 5 years. I'm so stressed have to make a decision now. Any thoughts? Please help.
I would strongly discourage you from moving. I love Phoenix and I'm one of the rare people on this forum that has very little negative things to say about Phoenix but given your doubt you have regarding moving, I advise against moving. You would have a lot to lose by moving. The people who move to Phoenix or desire moving here are excited and don't have doubts. There are thousands of people looking for jobs here and are waiting and will take the first job they can get here just to move here.
Since you are in a position where you have to talk your way into moving here, that's a bad omen for things to come. Your family is there. And yes, I think it is detrimental to moving your son from his high school when he is in the middle of it. The grass is always greener on the other side but Seattle is home for you and you will definitely miss it if you move here.
I would strongly discourage you from moving. I love Phoenix and I'm one of the rare people on this forum that has very little negative things to say about Phoenix but given your doubt you have regarding moving, I advise against moving. You would have a lot to lose by moving. The people who move to Phoenix or desire moving here are excited and don't have doubts. There are thousands of people looking for jobs here and are waiting and will take the first job they can get here just to move here.
Since you are in a position where you have to talk your way into moving here, that's a bad omen for things to come. Your family is there. And yes, I think it is detrimental to moving your son from his high school when he is in the middle of it. The grass is always greener on the other side but Seattle is home for you and you will definitely miss it if you move here.
So my answer is No, Don't Move!
I hope OP will be kind enough to come back and tell us her decision. I'm dying to know.
It has NEVER been 100 on Halloween anywhere in the metro area and certainly not suburban Gilbert away from the heat island - NEVER. The average high on that day is 81. The record high is 96 and that was in 1988. You did not live here then. Over the many years I have lived here, we have found that we often leave home for T or T feeling hot and ending up bundled up in coats a couple hours later. It's a dry (and it cools off fast after sunset) kind of heat that time of year.
And it will be in the 80s next week and probably a couple more times before the late June heat sets in. It's bad enough without having to exaggerate it.
Some like the heat, some hate it, but most just soldier on through it. Survey after survey done in Phoenix finds that, far and away, the thing people mention as what they like the most about the place is ---- THE WEATHER.
You were right, its a beautiful 84 high today. Im not sorry to be wrong. To be right, Id have to be running the AC all day today. I can't take the indoor heat when its over 90 outside. Please let it last 3 more weeks, like you said. ALTHOUGH, when its 110, my boy and I love to use the pool (at night). I hope you don't think I was fighting with you Personally about Arizona, Im not the biggest fan of the heat, but I do respect your opinion.
We have stretched it out and have a few more days to decide. Thank you everyone, you have all been very helpful!
Phoenix is not for everyone. It doesn't make you a bad person for having doubts about Phoenix. I could never live in Seattle. It's a beautiful city and I respect it but I could never live there due to their weather.
Likewise, given your situation, I would not move. Having family nearby is priceless. Letting your son graduate with his high school class is priceless. Seattle is home for you. There are things you don't like about it but there are aspects you love about it. Why would you move when you have so much going on there? If you have to convince yourself to do something, you shouldn't do it. I don't love everything about Phoenix but it's home for me. I don't like the summers but I deal with it and it's much easier than dealing with a winter in my opinion.
Talking yourself into something or even starting a thread questioning moving here means you shouldn't move here. The reason I say that is many people in your situation has moved here. They had to talk themselves into moving here and they liked it for the first year and after that, they got tired of Phoenix. The heat gets to them. The lack of an urban core/major downtown gets to them. The lack of being near the ocean bothers them. It's a big change for certain people and after a year or two they move.
In my opinion, the people who most struggle with moving to Phoenix are those who live on the Pacific coast (Seattle, Portland, SF, LA, SD). They are used to a certain lifestyle and they get tired of Phoenix after a while and want to move. The people who do well here are those from the Midwest and East Coast due to the harsh winter weather they deal with. Even though it's hot here, they appreciate the lack of a winter for the most part. Unlike the Pacific crowd, the Midwest and East Coast folk are not used to the luxuries of the West Coast, they are not used to space, nice freeways and road, nice weather, new element to everything, so they move here and impressed.
Fran, Yes, I am a woman, it's my husband that has been offered the job in Chandler. I am a stay at home mom. I can't tell anymore what my intuition is telling me. As far as having to take the job, I would say no. We originally wanted to move and then when it comes down to actually taking the plunge I now am panicking. A part of me wants to move to AZ and part of me wants to stay now. I know it sounds crazy.
I read something several years ago that helped me. A fork in the road is just a fork in the road. One is not right and the other wrong. If you take one, it doesn't mean you can never come back to the fork and take the other road. No decision is never final. I know it is more complicated than that when there is a job involved, but you might actually love AZ and never want to go back.
I understand your son not wanting to move, but he will adjust. Does he make friends easily? If so, I wouldn't worry about it at all. I did stay in one place so my kids could be with the same kids K-12, but looking back, they would have been okay if we'd moved.
Also, your son is going to be with you 3 years and then he will be off to college. So to me, you really need to make a decision about what is best, financially and otherwise, for you and your husband. Once he's in college, it's not going to make a big difference to him where you live.
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